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“John Adams” HBO Mini Series

“John Adams” HBO Mini Series

Filming in Richmond NOW!!!

LOOKING FOR YOUNG MALE AMPUTEES TO BE FEATURED IN THE MINI SERIES

POST CONCORD LEXINGTON BATTLEFIELD SCENE ON THURSDAY, MARCH 22ND, 2007

Specifically looking for young men who are Caucasian, and between the ages of 13 and 35. Small in size, no larger than a 46 Jacket, and no larger than a 38 waist.

Must be available to work on Thursday, March 22nd, and be available to be fit prior to working by our costume department.

This is a paid position. The rate is $150.00 flat fee for the day of work. We work a long day in the movie business! You will be needed from approx. 5 am to 8 pm on Thursday, March 22nd.

To be considered for these special featured positions – please email your phone number to Joni Tackette at Extrascast@aol.com, or you can call 804-225-7449.

CONTACT JONI IMMEDIATELY!!!

Sri Lanka: Japan funds for two social development projects for tsunami affected people in east and south areas

The Government of Japan provided a sum of US$ 69,355 (approximately Rs. 7.5 million) towards two social development projects namely, "Infrastructure Development for Tsunami Affected People in Ampara District" and "Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Participation in Mainstream Development for the Differently Abled Persons in Hambantota District". The signing of the Grant Contracts took place at the Embassy of Japan on 15th February 2007 between His Excellency Mr. Kiyoshi Araki, Ambassador of Japan and the representatives of the two respective organizations. Mr. Douglas Nanayakkara, Director/Registrar, National Secretariat for Non Governmental Organization, Ministry of Social Service & Social Welfare and Dr. Yuji Miyahara, First Secretary, Embassy of Japan and officials of each Organization were also present at the ceremony. The two projects are as follows;

1. "Infrastructure Development for Tsunami Affected People in Ampara District"
The tsunami that struck the island in 2004 has caused much destruction to people, property, and the environment. Ampara is one of the worst affected Districts with a highest number of deaths. A number of rehabilitation and reconstruction projects have been implemented since the tsunami. However, there are more needs such as development of small-scale infrastructure to be fulfilled.

Under the project, construction of a community center in Sainthamaruthu and renovation of rural road in Maruthamunai will be implemented. The Community Center with sanitary facilities will be utilized to conduct a pre-school for children affected by the tsunami. It also will be used to conduct community meetings and health clinics for tsunami affected people in the area. The renovation of rural road will improve the living condition of the people and facilitate easy access to schools and market places, which will benefit over thousands of people living in the Ampara District.

The project is to be implemented by the Rural Development Foundation (RDF). This is the third such occasion where the Government of Japan has provided funds to RDF for rural development projects in Ampara and Mannar.

2. "Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Participation in Mainstream Development for the Differently Abled Persons in Hambantota District"

The project in Hambantota is aimed at providing comprehensive rehabilitation services to differently abled persons.

Although policies and legislations in the country are adequate, implementation has not been effective enough. In the field level, there is a shortage of volunteers who could conduct comprehensive rehabilitation.

In this context, the project has designed to provide training for 30 volunteers on community based rehabilitation including proper identification of differently abledd persons, collect and maintain records, assist in providing physio therapy mainly for children, etc. Under the project, seminars are also to be organized for 80 government officials from 25 Grama Niladhari divisions of Ambalantota Division and other 30 officials attached to the organizations of differently abled peoples on capacity building. In addition, necessary materials for rehabilitation such as Prosthetics, Orthotics and other mobility aid are also to be procured utilizing the funds.
The project will benefit over 16,000 persons living in Ambalantota, Okewela and Tangalle Divisions.

Navajeevana, a national Non-governmental Organization (NGO) established in 1987, has been engaged in offering holistic care at grassroots level to differently abled persons, and will implement the project with the support from the community.

The Government of Japan gives priority for social development through its Official Development Assistance (ODA) scheme implemented in Sri Lanka based on its recognition that sustainable economic development can only be achieved under stable social environment.

Source: Government of Japan

Date: 15 Feb 2007

Amputees Learn to Walk by Using High-tech Device

By Josh Premako Senior Staff Writer
Wednesday February 14, 2007

BAKERSFIELD --Like pretty much every child, Norman Furr learned to walk as a toddler.
However, at age 9, he had to learn all over again.

Now 63, the Sand Canyon resident had his left leg amputated above the knee after a car accident when he was 9 years old.

His first prosthetic was carved from willow wood.

On Tuesday morning, Furr joined a small group in Bakersfield to test out the cutting edge in prosthetics.

Loaded with sensors and microprocessors, the C-Leg artificial leg manufactured by Otto Bock Healthcare LLP adjusts itself 50 times per second to changes in walking speed and direction, said company representative Mike Callahan.

"It takes the thinking out of walking," Callahan said.

While in the past, amputees wearing a prosthetic leg had to focus on walking and watching for obstacles, he said the battery-powered C-Leg is of a much more intelligent design that acts and reacts more like a natural limb.

Released about a decade ago, the C-Leg has been available in the U.S. for seven years, and Callahan said there are in excess of 10,000 units in use nationwide.

Depending on one's insurance coverage, Callahan said the price of a C-Leg can hover in the $40,000 range.

Calibrated on a laptop by a certified technician, the C-Leg can be set to two modes. For example, the user can have a walking mode, or switch to a mode more apt for bicycling.

A golfer for four years, Furr was curious if an improved rotation feature of the leg could help improve his game.

After being fitted with a trial model, the retired insurance agent practiced walking back and forth, his hands gripping balance rails. Though the C-Leg is even more advanced than his present prosthetic, his muscles worked against the C-Leg, instead wanting to fall into the habit of his normal hydraulic leg.

Furr did not seem immediately thrilled with the high-tech prosthetic, and Keith Sardo of VIPO's Newhall office said that there is often a greater learning curve with someone who is used to a certain type of prosthetic.

Tuesday's event took place at the Valley Institute of Prosthetics and Orthotics, a stop of Otto Bock's Road Show, a traveling presentation of the C-Leg, which in this case included Furr and three others being fitted for and testing out the leg.

Like Furr, 39-year-old Robert Watson of the San Fernando Valley lost his leg in a car accident.
Art Handy, 59, lost his leg during the Vietnam War.

Born without a tibia bone in her left leg, Katie Walker, 17, has worn a prosthetic throughout her life, and was recently accepted to the California State University system on a golf scholarship.
Also at VIPO on Tuesday was Maya Winfrey, a 28-year-old patient model for Otto Bock.

Her left leg was amputated seven years ago after a car accident, and she said she has been wearing a C-Leg for four years.

"I don't fall as often," she said, and added that she can walk farther with the C-Leg, a plus in pedestrian-oriented New York City, where she is a graduate student.

While there are psychological aspects to deal with when one loses a limb - not to mention having to learn to walk again - it's not impossible, Winfrey said.

"This is just another hurdle to get past," she said. "It doesn't need to affect my life in unmanageable ways."

Indeed, Winfrey said she maintains the active lifestyle she had before the amputation, jogging several times a week and recently learning to ski.

There have always been challenges to having lost a limb, but Furr said he can't even count on one hand the number of times he's been angry about it.

"I have a strong belief in God and his influence on my life," he said, and added that he can look back and see what he was saved from, such as serving - and potentially dying - in Vietnam.

Copyright:The Signal

Japan funds social development projects in Ampara, Hambantota

COLOMBO: The Japanese Government provided US$ 69,355 (Rs. 7.5 million) for two social development projects - Infrastructure Development for Tsunami-affected People in Ampara district and Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Participation in Mainstream Development for the Differently Able Persons in Hambantota district.

The signing of the grant contracts took place at the Japanese Embassy on February 15 between Japanese Ambassador Kiyoshi Araki and representatives of the two organisations.
Infrastructure development for tsunami affected people in Ampara district:
The tsunami that struck the island in 2004 caused much destruction to people, property, and environment.

Ampara was one of the worst affected districts with a highest number of deaths. Since the tsunami, a number of rehabilitation and reconstruction projects have been implemented. However, there are more needs such as development of small-scale infrastructure to be fulfilled.
Under the project, the construction of a community center in Sainthamaruthu and renovation of the rural road in Maruthamunai will be implemented.

The Community Center with sanitary facilities will be utilised to conduct a preschool for children affected by the tsunami.

It will also be used to conduct community meetings and health clinics for the tsunami affected in the area. The renovation of the rural road will improve the living condition of the people and facilitate easy access to schools and market places, which will benefit over thousands in the Ampara district.

The project is to be implemented by the Rural Development Foundation (RDF). This is the third such occasion where the Japanese Government has provided funds to RDF for rural development projects in Ampara and Mannar.

Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Participation in Mainstream Development for the Differently Able Persons in Hambantota District:

The project in Hambantota is aimed at providing comprehensive rehabilitation services to differently able persons.

Although policies and legislations in the country are adequate, implementation has not been effective enough.

In the field level, there is a shortage of volunteers conducting comprehensive rehabilitation.
The project has designed to provide training for 30 volunteers on community based rehabilitation including proper identification of differently abled persons, collect and maintain records, assist in providing physiotherapy mainly for children, etc.

Under the project, seminars are also to be organised for 80 government officials from 25 Grama Sevaka divisions of Ambalantota Division and other 30 officials attached to the organisations of differently able peoples on capacity building. Materials for rehabilitation such as prosthetics, orthotics and other mobility aid are also to be procured utilising the funds.

The project will benefit over 16,000 persons in Ambalantota, Okewela and Tangalle division.

Navajeevana established in 1987 has been engaged in offering holistic care at grass roots level to differently able persons, and will implement the project with the support from the community.

Medical care for Palestinian children

Medical care for Palestinian children U.S. group arranges local and overseas treatment - Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Friday, March 2, 2007

(03-02) 04:00 PST Jebaliya Refugee Camp, Gaza -- Smiling and laughing, Oday el-Jamal was playing soccer in the garden when visitors came calling at the family home in the Jebaliya refugee camp north of Gaza City.

The handsome 7-year-old with unruly brown hair seemed not to have a care in the world -- until he removed his sneakers and rolled down his trousers to reveal a leg that ended in a fleshy stump just below his knee. The rest of his leg and the foot that moments before had been kicking a soccer ball across the yard was made from metal and plastic.

Oday's leg was blown off last September by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell, which destroyed the house next door and sent jagged pieces of debris flying into his garden as he played there. His left foot was still intact, but only just, the bones twisted and deformed. His whole body was covered with angry pink craters, his young skin punctured by the deadly shards of metal.

This month, Oday will be in San Francisco, where doctors at UCSF Hospital will perform corrective surgery on his left foot and he will be fitted with a prosthetic right leg made just for him and taught how to use it.

"We thought he was dead," said his mother, Karima el-Jamal. "He was playing out in the garden and we heard an explosion, and next thing we knew the ambulance had rushed him off to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. When we got there, he was in intensive care. The doctors said it was touch and go.

After a few days, the little boy was transferred to Soroka, an Israeli hospital in Beersheba, where he remained for two months before he was transferred to Alyn, a specialist Israeli orthopedic center in Jerusalem.

"The Israeli doctors did everything for him. They operated on the wounds in his abdomen and tried to save his leg, but they couldn't," she said.

He was fitted there with a temporary artificial leg, which is already broken. Although the Israelis agreed to treat Oday, because of the political tensions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, he and his mother were unable to stay in Israel any longer. Back in Gaza, he cannot receive the care he needs to resume normal life.

His case came to the attention of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, which contacted Walter Racette, director of orthotics and prosthetics in the UCSF department of orthopedic surgery. Racette agreed to donate the services required so Oday can be fitted with a prosthesis and learn to use his new leg. His mother will stay with Oday during his recovery.

Oday is just one of hundreds of Palestinian children to benefit from the work of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, a charity based in Ohio that every year sends dozens of young patients in need of surgery to the United States and Europe, and brings in teams of specialist doctors to treat urgent cases in the West Bank and Gaza.

Last year, the charity raised close to $40 million. According to director Steve Sosebee, it has provided medical services worth more than $400 million, none of which was normally available to Palestinians.

One recent afternoon in Ramallah General Hospital in the West Bank, Dr. Aijaz Hashmi, a pediatric heart surgeon from Loma Linda University Children's Hospital in San Bernardino County, was inserting a catheter into the heart of Randa Abu Shamsiyeh, a 12-year-old girl from Hebron who was born with a heart defect that dramatically reduces the amount of oxygen in her blood.

"This should have been treated 10 years ago, and cannot be done here because they don't have the necessary post-operative care," said Hashmi, who was ending a whirlwind week of clinics and operations.

It was Hashmi's first time in the West Bank. He came with a team of doctors and nurses from Loma Linda who saw more than 130 heart patients in clinics in Jenin, Ramallah and Bethlehem, and performed eight procedures.

"It's extremely rewarding, very gratifying," he said. "If we don't do this, who else is going to do it? We're blessed that we can take the time off."

This article appeared on page A - 11 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Experts build legs for amputees

Warren-based nonprofit will take prostheses from Clinton Twp. to the Dominican Republic

February 25, 2007
BY KIM NORTH SHINE
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

They are standing at the wait, about 30 artificial legs -- tall ones, short ones, metal ones, plaster ones. Soon they will leave the hallway of a Clinton Township prosthetics clinic and end up in a hospital in the Dominican Republic, where they'll help people who have waited years for a limb so they can walk again.

The mission to the Caribbean nation by a group of local prosthetics experts, two of them amputees, originated with Warren-based M-STAR (Michigan Society to Advance Rehabilitation).

M-STAR founder Dr. Saul Morris is a retired physician assistant and psychiatrist from Warren who uses a prosthetic leg. St. Clair Shores resident Bob Maniere, also an amputee who walks with an artificial leg, is president and co-owner of Comfort Prosthetics and Orthotics in Clinton Township. They are two of the five doctors and prosthetics experts making the trip as volunteers providing a free service to people in need.

They plan to depart March 1 and return March 11.

"With me being an amputee myself and Saul being an amputee we feel strongly about getting people on their feet," said Maniere, who lost his leg jumping on a train as a teenager. Morris' leg was amputated in 2000 due to a condition called peripheral vascular disease.

"We don't know what kind of situation you can run into there," Maniere said last week from his Clinton Township office.

On Feb. 16, he; Morris; Jim Williamson, a registered prosthetics and orthotics assistant from Clinton Township, and David Ballantyne, a certified prosthetist from Harper Woods, were planning for their upcoming trip. Comfort Prosthetics and Orthotics is funding the trip with a donation of between $10,000 and $15,000. That price, however, does not include shipping, which the group didn't count on.

"We come in early. We work on Saturdays," Williamson said.

That is not a complaint, because the outcome could be so profound.

"A father can work again, a husband can help around the house again," Williamson said. "It's the whole family that's affected, not just the patient."

"It's going to be a lot of hard work, but it's worth it," Maniere said. "We'll be moving fast. It would normally take us a couple of months to do 30 patients; we'll do that many in five-six days."

To prepare for the trip, over the last few weeks they have taken parts from donated, unwanted prosthetics and pieced them together to form whole new legs. "Basically, we're taking stuff that would have been thrown away and making good use of it," Morris said.

The legs have come from donations made to M-STAR, as well as from Maniere's patients who have either found their legs ill-fitting or tired of them. Doctors, by law, may not reuse or resell the legs in the United States, in part to protect patients from being sold second-hand prosthetics instead of new ones.

"We might as well get someone walking with them," Maniere said.

It took between two and three weeks to turn the donated, disassembled pieces into new complete legs. Legs of all kinds -- pneumatic, hydraulic, starter legs, waterproof legs, light-skinned legs and dark-skinned ones.

In the Dominican Republic, the legs that were rebuilt here will be matched with patients. The doctors will work in the prosthetics facility at a rehabilitation hospital in Santo Domingo that includes an oven for baking casts and tools for shaping and cutting them.
If necessary, Dr. John Sealey, vice chief of staff and a vascular surgeon at St. John Riverview Hospital in Detroit, where Comfort Prosthetics and Orthotics also has an office, will operate to correct problems common in amputees.

The group will also teach the hospital's prosthetics technicians "30 years worth of experience so that they can go forward into the future and do more for their patients," Maniere said.
"In the Dominican Republic you probably have somewhere around 4,000 amputees waiting for limbs," Maniere said. "They can't get the parts first of all, and they've usually cost too much. A lot of what they do have comes from the black market."

The legs coming from Michigan range in price from nearly $2,000 each to as much as $8,000 each, for a total worth of about $250,000, Maniere said.

What Morris has dubbed "Operation Compassion" began when a Dominican-born New Jersey woman called him at M-STAR to say she wanted to get artificial legs there "to help her people," Morris said. She is making the trip as well.

That led to a call by Morris to Maniere and company, just the latest in a long line of requests for favors. "He comes to us a lot," Maniere says. Everyone laughs.

The stories of those for whom Morris asks favors, however, are far from comical.

There was the girl from Gambia who was wearing a wooden leg that fell apart. She was brought to Clinton Township from Wisconsin and given a specially built leg and "finally wore a dress for the first time," Morris said.

They helped a Bolivian farmer who up until four months ago had rigged up a pipe to use as a leg.
Morris became a philanthropic prosthetics provider after he was asked to speak to an advocacy group for the disabled.

"They asked me to speak about my experience not long after I lost my leg," Morris said. "I said 'Go to hell. I don't want to talk about this.' I finally started reading up and I just realized I'm trained in medicine and I'm not understanding this and feeling bad about myself. I decided to dedicate myself to helping amputees then."

Besides providing prosthetics, Morris, at no cost, visits hospitals to counsel and advise new, often confused, angry or depressed, amputees. He goes to their homes. He hears from people who want to use an arm or a leg again but don't have the means. He's hearing more from families of soldiers in Iraq or from the soldiers themselves.

"It's pretty hard when you can't say yes to whatever they need," said Morris, who is provided a small monthly stipend by Comfort Prosthetics and Orthotics in order to work on his low-budget M-STAR project.

Said Maniere, "Without Dr. Morris finding the people who need help and getting hold of us, none of this would be happening."

They all are looking forward to changing some lives for the better.

"When you see the people walking, all the work you put in, all the dollars that were spent won't matter," Maniere said. "Plus, it's fun. . . . We hope we can make this a yearly thing."

Contact KIM NORTH SHINE at 313-223-4557 or kshine@freepress.com
.

Management of Bilateral Lower Extremity Amputees

In response to e-mail, regarding care and rehab of bilateral lower extremity amputees, here is a very good article from The American Academy of Orthotists & Prosthetists.



BILATERAL LOWER LIMB PROSTHESES
Jack E Uellendahl, CPOHanger Prosthetics and OrthoticsPhoenix Arizona
The bilateral lower limb amputee poses unique challenges to the rehabilitation team as they seek to restore functional mobility. Modern fitting techniques and state-ofthe- art componentry allow for improved function and comfort compared to what was possible in the recent past. As medical care and rehabilitation techniques continue to improve, patients are living longer, resulting in an increase in the number of bilateral amputations. Esquenazi reports that fifty percent of the patients who suffer a lower limb amputation because of disease are at risk for a second amputation within 3 years. In light of these statistics, it is imperative that the healthcare professionals serving the needs of amputees are well versed in the special needs of the bilateral amputee.
Factors that influence the successful rehabilitation of the bilateral lower limb amputee are numerous. The level of limb loss, particularly the presence of physiological knee joints and the general strength and health of the amputee are key indicators of the successful use of prostheses. Careful attention to the details of socket fit, prosthesis alignment and component selection following sound prosthetic principles along with the services of an experienced rehabilitation team will optimize the ambulation potential of the bilateral amputee. Given these advantages and the determination of the amputee to succeed, a positive outcome is attainable. The rehabilitation team should maintain an open mind. Thoughtful use of available assistive technologies including, but not limited to, state-of-the-art prosthetic components can be of significant benefit to the bilateral amputee.

Please go to link for more information on this subject!